There is something strange in the air about the word nostalgia. Recently I went to US for an on the road trip; curious about musical dynamics, I was expecting to be overwhelmed by a soundtrack made of hyper pop, rap, trap and Taylor Swift. Instead, in almost every shop, bar or restaurant the background music was eighties pop rock, seventies folk and old synth pop. Of course I was happy to listen to Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Pet Shop Boys and Jackson Browne but it all sounded strange: it was like being transported back in time. Nostalgia, I suppose, for the “old times” against the ugliness of the present (in every sense) but at the same time a total indifference of the contemporary non-hiphop music. I mean, if you want to reject mainstream music you don’t need to go back to the seventies, there is so much NOW that you can listen to instead of surrender to rap. Indie rock, folk, alt country, electronic music are “for the present”: why listen to Joni Mitchell if I can listen to Marissa Nadler? I want contemporary music because nostalgia is a way to escape from the present and I want to face reality, not only soft memories.
So, the new album from Marissa Nadler is here to remember us the emotions we can feel now, not to caress our sterile escapism. “New Radiations” is here to talk to us about the present shadows of our soul, not about what we were. Is is beautiful music for the present and we need it to face the trump-ugliness.
The american singer, main representative of the dream folk scene, with her 10th album returns to her essential sound based on the plot between voice and guitar, with a production and mixing (by Randall Dunn) that enhances her vocal tone. The songs are sweet and gloomy at the same time, her fingerpicking is at the center and creates ethereal soundscapes of dark folk. “It’s Harder” caresses the listener with different vocal layers and a sad melody recalling Angel Olsen’s poetics. “Bad Dreams Summertime” is, if possible, more dreamy and slow: sweet choruses and chords as gentle as a lullaby. “You Called Her Camellia” is an engaging country song, voice and guitar and that’s all. “New Radiations” arrives on an electric guitar and a dark bass line creating a tension: “I was retracting the lines of a memory”. The last “Sad Satellite” is a comfortable pillow to rest your head on and dream, while a melody next to Fleet Foxes and The Paper Kites accompanies you in a reflection on loss and the emotions associated with distance.
New Radiations” doesn’t need nostalgia to let us live intense emotions. It is here and now as an adult telling you “live your life and don’t loose yourself in a futile escape”. Emotions are here and Marissa Nadler is one of their believable singers.
